Welcome to Leila’s Life!

 Hello my name is Leila Randall!  I was born on November 14th 1859 in Collins Center New York.  I grew up on a farm that our family called "Mapleside" with my five bothers and two sisters. As you will see, our entire community is a close knit family .  One of my regular passions was keeping a diary that documented selected highlights of my life from 1880 until 1944.  I also took plenty of photographs to help carry the reflections of our lives into the future.

 During my lifetime, I worked as a schoolteacher, a nurse and a photographer’s assistant.  I also know much about what it takes to keep a farm business in operation. Farm activities were a big part of my life for many years.  I didn’t find my life on the farm to be ordinary or tedious as you might imagine.  It was hard work for sure, but I consider those times some of the best of my life.  I experienced life’s magic and the many bounties and treasures that life has to offer.  I enjoyed regular doses of life’s supreme offerings which I accepted without reservation.  My acceptance was but an open and reverent acquiescence to that higher bountiful source which often astonished and at times overwhelmed the senses.

 Please join me as I share slices of my life freely dished out for your enjoyment.  Indeed most of these slices were intensely delicious and yet a few were undeniably bitter.  It is my hope that you might find something here to spark and soothe your appetite for the magic of life that is always hidden behind the curtain of seemingly ordinary events.  No life remains untouched by that magic as long as we actively seek to look behind the curtain!

Here is a photo of Mapleside in 1900.

Here is a photo of Mapleside in 1922. My Nephew Randall Geiger (My sister Nell's son) is on the right.

Here is a photo of our barns just to the left of the house in 1900.

Here is a photo of Ma feeding the chickens and turkeys about 1899.

Here is a photo of me feeding the lambs at the side corral about 1899.

Here is a photo of my youngest brother Ferris (Fay) on the way to the cheese factory with a load of milk about 1899.

Here is another photo of my youngest brother Ferris working with the horses in the field about 1899.

Here is a picture of our dog Mack in the side yard about 1900.

Here is a picture of the east hill in Collins Center, NY between 1910 and 1920 when utility poles were in place.

Here is a picture of my eldest brother Carl and one of our prize hogs about 1898.  Check out that sunflower behind Carl.  It was later in the summer and a bit dry now but that sunflower almost topped the first story of the barn!

Please check out this link to see a 1960 Buffalo, NY news article about Leila's diary.